App Revenues to Reach $99bn Annually By 2019

Hampshire, UK: 31st March 2015:: Annual revenues from apps accessed via mobile handsets and tablets are expected to reach $99bn by 2019, new research from Juniper Research has found.

Growth Strongest in Lifestyle Apps and eBooks

The new research suite, ‘Apps & App Stores: Market Trends & Forecasts 2015-2019’ found that while games would continue to account for the largest share of revenues for the next five years, highest growth would be experienced in areas such as lifestyle applications (such as dating and navigation) and eBooks.

Dating Activity Migrates to Mobile

According to the research, a significant proportion of online dating activity is now migrating to mobile devices, with dating accounting for 4 of the top 20 grossing UK iOS apps in early-2015 (Match.com, Zoosk, Tinder and Plenty of Fish). The report argued that with online dating now mainstream, most net growth in the sector is likely to occur via smartphone usage.

Meanwhile, the research observed that navigation apps continued to buck the trend towards freemium and use a PPD (Pay Per Download) model, with many apps charging a high ($50 plus) one-off price. However, it argued that even here the model was expected to transition to a subscription-based model, with features including live traffic updates allowing for ongoing revenue streams.

Operators Exit Storefront Space

Additionally, the research confirmed that while a few network operators still maintained app storefronts, these now accounted for less than 2% of app downloads worldwide. According to research author Dr Windsor Holden, “Operators have finally recognised that they cannot compete with Apple and Google from a content distribution basis. If they are to monetise content, that revenue has to come from bundling content into subscriptions or through leveraging the billing relationship.”

Other findings from the report include:

More than 235bn apps will be downloaded worldwide this year

Baidu is now the second-largest storefront behind Google

Barely 1% of applications are now paid for at the point of download

The whitepaper, The App Landscape Today, is available to download from the Juniper website together with details of the full research and Interactive Forecast Excel (IFxl).

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.